Saturday, November 15, 2008

A mother's pride and guilt, and the wisdom of youth

Eldest daughter 's Letter to the Editor was published in the Anchorage Daily News this past Monday. I feel guilty that I did not post it then (my excuse is that I was getting ready to leave on my trip then). Here's the letter:

Stevens is not fit to serveAlaska is a red state, there is no doubt about that. However, there are reasonable limits to party loyalty. Voting for a convicted felon is beyond die-hard loyalty, it's borderline crazy.Sen. Ted Stevens served Alaska very well in the past, but he betrayed us through his unethical conduct and dishonesty. An honorable man loyal to his state and party would have removed himself from the race at the beginning of the ethics investigation in order to give the GOP time to field a valid candidate against Mark Begich.Stevens insulted Alaskans by not taking responsibility for his own transgressions and stepping down in the face of this humiliation. Instead, Alaskans were asked to vote for a convicted felon in order to defeat a Democrat. Sen. Stevens will most likely be unceremoniously thrown from the Senate by an expulsion vote. He can no longer serve Alaska and has further besmirched the name of Alaska politics.Alaskans, please take a good, hard look at yourself, your elected officials and your party. At what point will you follow your own moral compass rather than federal money or your party line?

Runningl8 posted it right away on her blog in a post entitled Follow your OWN moral compass, saying: "This 21 year old woman has so succinctly and eloquently hit the nail on the head regarding the absurdity of trying to re-elect Ted Stevens...AWESOME letter, Eldest!!!"

And I, the proud mother, feel guilty I wasn't quicker to post it and praise my daughter...

Ahhh guilt -- but what good does guilt really do?Here's a great little quote (it's from the daughter of a friend -- she's the same age as Eldest).She recently told her mom:Stop feeling guilty!Guilt is a lot like rocking a rocking chair. You put lots of energy into it, but in the end, it gets you nowhere -- you're still in the same place as before!

About the crazy Kraut who writes this blog:

I call Alaska home, but am originally from Germany. I'm incredibly lucky to have a job as a naturalist, teaching and hiking the great outdoors. My family:
The Prof (my husband);
Eldest (flown the coop);
Wolfman (teenage son);
Liesl (youngest pixie).